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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29526897">The World Ceased to Exist</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEntireFangirl/pseuds/TheEntireFangirl'>TheEntireFangirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, F/M, i wrote and posted this all within 45 minutes so i'm both proud and scared of the results, idk if this is fluff or angst but it is something indeed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:34:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29526897</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEntireFangirl/pseuds/TheEntireFangirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug only had a few minutes to talk to her de-akumatized partner.</p>
<p>Chat Noir only had a few minutes with the ignorant love of his life before she would fix everything and clear him from history.</p>
<p>The conversation would be a tense one, obviously.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>147</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The World Ceased to Exist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ladybug flipped the eraser over in her fingers, looking around the bleached Paris. She looked to Bunnix, eyebrows scrunched, and gulped. “Can I talk to him for just a minute?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bunnix combed her fingers through her bangs. “That’s dangerous, Minibug, and you know it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir stared at his hands, fiddling with his ring. He wanted to talk to her—to tell her he was sorry. But he knew it wasn’t the right version of her. He knew that she didn’t know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be careful,” Ladybug promised. “But...” She dug her finger into the eraser, trying to peel some shavings off, but without her nail the fabric just slipped over it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bunnix sighed. “Just a couple minutes. You don’t have too long.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug looked up to Chat, her blue eyes wide with emotion, but not fear. She walked over to him, linking their arms together. He wanted to cry at how painfully familiar it felt—but he couldn’t. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>wouldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So,” she started, carefully, quietly. They reached the end of the ledge—the fallen Eiffel Tower. She sat down and let her legs hang off. He followed. “You know my identity.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you don’t know mine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did I—Did </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span> know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” The word was quiet, timid. He thought back to his father, to the love of his life, to all of Paris—all of which he killed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug watched as the pain settled over his eyes, as he panned over the blue-and-white skyline. “Whatever happened... It’s not your fault.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A twisted smile settled over his face and he swallowed what was left in his mouth. “Yes, it is. Because I could have given my Miraculous up when I found out about your identity, and I didn’t. When you go back to your timeline, you have to make sure I’m never presented with that choice, because I’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> make the right one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. Of course he’d know—of course they couldn’t know each other’s identities. Master Fu had been telling them as much since the beginning. But she always believed that one day, once it was over, they’d be able to know. And now that belief, however naïve it may have been, was shattered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Were you in love with me?” she asked. “Or the girl under the mask?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked at her, examining the way her lips parted and her hands squeezed over the eraser. That eraser would be the end of him, but in a nice way. He was ready for that. He only felt bad for the Adrien who would survive, the one who had yet to find out the truth about his mother, about Gabriel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You always did do that,” he answered. “You’re not one or the other. You’re both. You’re incredible as </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not as these two identities which exist mutually exclusive of each other.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled, but no blush fell over her face. Was she scared? Chat wondered. Did she fear that he would jump up and cataclysm her just for fun? He couldn’t blame her, even if all he wanted to do was jump up and say, </span>
  <em>
    <span>It’s me! It’s Adrien, the love of your life, and I’d never hurt you when I’m myself, when all I want to do is love you dearly!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was all Ladybug could do not to flinch away as he reached for her hand, grabbing the eraser carefully between his claws.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look,” he said, examining the red-and-black eraser. “I don’t want you to miss me or feel bad for me. Once you do this, I’m going to have never existed from all but your and Bunnix’s point of view. I want you to go back to your home and love everyone a little bit harder, okay? They could all use it. I want you to know that a happy ending can come, but it will take time, and patience, and love to achieve. I want you to know that I love you, and so does that boy you’re gonna go back to—he loves </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Marinette. He’s just too dumb to recognize it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the first time, she began to tear up, looking into his eyes. “I love you too, Chat Noir. Just not that way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug heard footsteps behind her and turned to Bunnix. “Time to go?” she asked, already standing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bunnix only nodded and walked with her, silently back to the Burrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Goodbye, Marinette,” Chat called back to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Goodbye, Chat,” she said to him as she stepped into the Burrow and it disappeared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re wrong,” he said, even though—or maybe <em>because</em>—it was too late. “You do love me like that. But we’ll never be in the right place, or the right time, for it to happen. So you’ll go to bed tonight feeling guilty that you don’t return my feelings, but you shouldn’t, because it’s not your fault, it’s no one’s fault, you just need to be patient and keep being your amazing self.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked to the moon, the one he’d destroyed. Tears gathered in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Plagg, claws in,” he called out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They made eye contact for just a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world ceased to exist.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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